The world of marketing is constantly in flux, changing to keep up with the latest trends, new technologies, and evolving consumer behaviour. As a result, marketing courses are frequently updated to reflect these changes – making them more relevant to students as the year goes on.

However, even with course content tailored to the needs of today’s students, it is still difficult for marketing degrees to stand out among the flood of new courses and constantly evolving curriculums. To make your marketing course truly special, you need to do more than offer students information on the latest trends and technologies – you need to bring the trends and technologies into the course!

The course creators of today will study how you, as a marketer, interpreted the world of digitally transformed marketing and applied it to your own specific course. To begin with, we’ll take a quick look at how traditional marketing approaches have shifted in the face of digital transformation, before exploring the ways in which you can evolve your own marketing degree to fit the new era – and the ways in which you can make your course truly special.

From Branded Content to Brand Awareness

In the past, marketing degrees focused heavily on traditional marketing approaches such as brand analysis, advertising, and sales. Although much remains the same, the world of digital transformation has forced marketers to re-evaluate the way they approach branding.

The most obvious shift involves consumers’ new-found ability to research brands before purchasing them. Gone are the days of a simple brand recall – today, consumers have the ability to interact with brands online, learn about their values, and research whether or not they are right for them.

To better understand this changing consumer behaviour, it is important to look at the evolution of marketing degrees. Back in the day, with just a few exceptions in the field like public relations and journalism, marketing was considered an ‘entry-level’ degree. Students entering the field typically had either an entrepreneurial spirit or a background in sales and marketing. They tended to learn the basics of marketing as part of their general studies – if they were lucky enough to land a job in a marketing department, they would learn the specifics of marketing at their place of work.

Then along came the digital age, and changed all that.

Nowadays, with the rise of digital marketing, all sorts of degrees, including journalism, public relations, and even Computer Science offer a marketing degree. This reflects both the growing demand for digital marketing specialists as well as the fact that colleges and universities see the benefit of educating their students about the digital world.

This is also reflected in the constantly evolving nature of marketing degrees. For example, the field of data analytics is growing at a rate of 22% per year, and forecasts predict that by 2022, there will be a shortage of 140,000 data scientists globally.

The Role of Digital Marketing Specialists

The world of digital marketing has exploded in size, with professionals required to manage and analyse all types of marketing activities across both online and offline platforms. The role of a digital marketer is often considered a combination of marketing, advertising, and social media strategist, but it is more than this.

The fact that marketing degrees have widened their scope to include so many new professions means that you, as a future marketer, have a rich tapestry of skills to choose from once you graduate.

According to the LinkedIn 2021 Marketing Jobs Market Report, there are currently over 270,000 marketing jobs available globally – more than enough to accommodate graduates from any reputable marketing program.

Make Your Marketing Degree Special

Traditional marketing degrees are considered ‘bolt-on’ qualifications in Australia – meaning that they can be added to a base education to form a completely new qualification. This flexibility in the system makes it much easier for employers to recruit graduates from any accredited marketing program, regardless of whether or not they have prior experience in the field.

Despite this flexibility, a standalone marketing degree is relatively inexpensive – the average cost of an education in Australia is $25,000, with the most expensive course (MBA) costing over $60,000. Because marketing is such a popular degree to study, many universities put out their own unique spin on the subject matter, making it much more interesting and relevant to students.

One of the best things you can do for your marketing degree is to take the time to get involved in activities outside of the classroom. Many universities offer a variety of extra-curricular activities, and participating in these can offer you the opportunity to build valuable connections and gain priceless qualifications.

If you’ve ever considered a career in marketing, you’d know that it’s a really competitive field. With so many job opportunities available, it’s essential that you develop the right skills – both in and out of the classroom. To have the best possible chance of landing a job, you need to be able to stand out among the rest. This is where taking a marketing course to the next level comes in. By investing in your education and getting involved in extra-curricular activities, you’ll be able to truly stand out above the rest.

What Makes Your Marketing Course Special?

At the end of the day, it’s all about you – what makes your marketing course special is you! As an aspiring marketer, you’ll no doubt be approached by employers and recruiters with countless offers of employment. You need to be picky about the role you take on, as competition for these jobs is fierce.

To make your marketing degree stand out among the rest, you need to do more than simply study the subject matter – you need to bring your degree content and yourself to life! Start by mapping out a marketing plan – this should include everything from identifying your target audience to creating educational content.

With so much information available online, people are now more inclined to learn about brands and products via online videos – this type of content is called ‘branded content’, and is seen as an extension of the brand. In 2021 alone, YouTube reported that people spent over 7.7 billion hours watching videos – an hour and a half per day, on average – making it the number 1 digital destination for consumers worldwide (Statista).

So, how can you utilise branded content to put a human face on your marketing degree? One option is to create a series of short videos, each one exploring a different aspect of marketing. For example, you could create a 30-minute video on the history of marketing, or why it’s important to be brand-aware, or how to properly design a website.

Not only will these videos increase your visibility among job search engines, but they will also add a human face to your marketing degree. Employers love to see a face behind the content, and having short videos makes it much easier for them to get a sense of who you are and what you can bring to the table.

Make Sure You Update Your Marketing Degrees

The information presented in a marketing programme will remain the same for the most part. Although much remains the same, the world of marketing is constantly in flux, with new technologies, new approaches, and evolving consumer behaviour forcing marketers to constantly update their courses.

The obvious way to stand out above the rest is to design a marketing programme that is regularly updated to align with these changes – making your programme unique and special.

What makes a good marketing programme? Well, from an employer’s point of view, it’s all about what is in it for them. The more the curriculum and the information presented in it changes, the more it offers them. This is why many marketing programmes are frequently updated to reflect the times we live in – to keep our professors and employers up-to-date with the trends and changes that shape the industry.

For example, a marketing degree based in the UK might look like this:

• Introduction to Marketing
• Marketing Management
• Social Media Marketing
• Digital Marketing (incl. SEO, PPC, Email Marketing)
• Analytics
• Case Studies
• Business Environment
• Ethics and Regulations

Now, let’s say you’re a student looking for a new challenge and you want to earn some money online – what can you do? You’d likely start by creating a landing page, where you can provide valuable information on the topic, or ask questions, or even give advice, all in exchange for a reward, such as a gift card, or a discount on your next purchase.